H
Hawk3411
Hello... first, I am new to BeerSmith, so hi everyone. Sorry to do this to you on my first visit, but I really need to vent. I purchased a 30' copper Wort Cooler (I was going to make one, but the price of copper is through the roof) and I used it for the first time last night in an attempt to make a batch of beer... it didn't go so well.
I did everything I was supposed to do. I gave the device a quick "once-over", I wiped it down to make sure no debris got into my wort, and I placed in the wort the last 15 minutes of my boil to sanitize. After flame out, I attached the water hose to the fitting on the intake and started the water. I was amazed at how fast it was bringing down the temp and everything seemed to be working fine. I turned my back for a few minutes to get my ice chest ready (I use an ice chest with water to stabalize the temp on my primary) and my primary bucket when all of sudden, I hear water dumping out all over my wife's sparkly clean kitchen floor behind me.
One of the clamps holding the hose to the copper was defective (had a short mistooled, deformed screw) and would only tighten the clamp a half turn of the screw and would let go after a few minutes. Just my luck, when the clamp let go and the hose detached, all the water running through the copper dumped directly into my wort and overflowed my 8 gallon bucket... that's about 3 gallons of tap water diluting my wort and spilling boiled wort, hop residue, etc. all over the kitchen tile.
After pouring my entire batch down the drain, I had to move the refrigerator (that thing is a beast) because the diluted wort had ran under it during the incident. My wife stood, tapping her foot, and watched while I cleaned... so much salt... so many wounds. :'(
To top it all off, I had already popped the WYeast a few hours earlier and it looked like a softball, so the only usable ingredients I still have from that batch are my priming sugar, a nylon steeping bag, and a "Make Your Own Damn Beer!" bumper sticker.
I am going to go to Home Depot today and get a new clamp and I will reorder my ingredients for this batch that I intend to have ready by the time football starts. At least I still have time.
Thanks for letting me vent!
Hawk
I did everything I was supposed to do. I gave the device a quick "once-over", I wiped it down to make sure no debris got into my wort, and I placed in the wort the last 15 minutes of my boil to sanitize. After flame out, I attached the water hose to the fitting on the intake and started the water. I was amazed at how fast it was bringing down the temp and everything seemed to be working fine. I turned my back for a few minutes to get my ice chest ready (I use an ice chest with water to stabalize the temp on my primary) and my primary bucket when all of sudden, I hear water dumping out all over my wife's sparkly clean kitchen floor behind me.
One of the clamps holding the hose to the copper was defective (had a short mistooled, deformed screw) and would only tighten the clamp a half turn of the screw and would let go after a few minutes. Just my luck, when the clamp let go and the hose detached, all the water running through the copper dumped directly into my wort and overflowed my 8 gallon bucket... that's about 3 gallons of tap water diluting my wort and spilling boiled wort, hop residue, etc. all over the kitchen tile.
After pouring my entire batch down the drain, I had to move the refrigerator (that thing is a beast) because the diluted wort had ran under it during the incident. My wife stood, tapping her foot, and watched while I cleaned... so much salt... so many wounds. :'(
To top it all off, I had already popped the WYeast a few hours earlier and it looked like a softball, so the only usable ingredients I still have from that batch are my priming sugar, a nylon steeping bag, and a "Make Your Own Damn Beer!" bumper sticker.
I am going to go to Home Depot today and get a new clamp and I will reorder my ingredients for this batch that I intend to have ready by the time football starts. At least I still have time.
Thanks for letting me vent!
Hawk